It often happens that a number of applicants with almost the same qualifications and experience all apply for the same position. In their educational background, special skills and work experience, there is little, if anything, to choose between half a dozen candidates. How then does the employer make a choice? Usually on the basis of an interview. There are many arguments for and against the interview as a way of selection. The main argument against it is that it results in a wholly _ decision. As often as not, employers do not choose the best candidate. They choose the candidate who makes a good first impression on them. Some employers, of course, reply to this argument by saying that they have become so experienced in interviewing staff that they are able to make a good assessment of each candidate's likely performance. The main argument in favor of the interview is that an employer is concerned not only with a candidate's ability, but with his or her suitable personality for the particular work situation. Many employers, for example, will overlook occasional mistakes from their secretary if she has a pleasant personality. It is perhaps true to say, therefore, that the real purpose of an interview is not to assess the assessable aspects of each candidate but to make a guess at the things that are hard to measure, such as personality, character and social ability. Unfortunately, both for the employers and applicants for jobs, there are many people of great ability who simply do not interview well. There are also, of course, people who interview extremely well, but are later found to be very unsatisfactory employees. Candidates who interview well tend to be quietly confident, but never boastful , direct and straightforward in their questions and answers; cheerful and friendly, but never over-familiar; and sincerely enthusiastic and optimistic. Candidates who interview badly tend to be either very shy or over-confident. They either talk too little or never stop talking. They are either over polite or a bit rude. What is the author's attitude towards the interview? A) He thinks it is a good way of selection B) He doesn't quite agree with it C) He is neither for nor against it D) It is not clear
B

It was a bad time for me . I was low emotionally and tired physically. Probably because of this I hadn't shaved for a few days. Also, because I had been doing some repairs at my daughter's house, I was dressed quite scruffily. Boarding the bus to go home I saw it was almost full so I found a rail to lean against. That was when a young woman, sitting with her child, stood up and offered me her seat. "Wow !" I thought. Out loud I said, "Do I look that old and tired?" She replied," You look like you've had a tough day." I thanked her sincerely and stayed standing. A moment later a man rose from his seat at the back of the bus and made his way towards me, squeezing past several people on the way. Then he told me about his addiction problems, asked for my advice, and just chatted about life for a few minutes. Then he went back to his seat. Very random! Watching him go, I also looked at the bus-load of people between me and his seat. He hadn't chosen to talk to those strangers. He chose to talk to _ for whatever it meant to him and whatever comfort it brought him. Why? That's when it occurred to me. I must have looked like I had been where he was. I probably looked like a man who would understand a difficult life. I was humbled and uplifted at the same time by the realization that even when we are at our lowest we can still help others--if we look like we might be able to meet them where they live or walk a while in their world. Why did the young woman offer her seat to the writer? A) Because she thought the writer looked very old. B) Because the writer looked very friendly. C) Because the writer looked humorous. D) Because the writer looked exhausted.
D

A cancer-stricken British teenage girl said Thursday she had been moved by messages of support from around the world after writing an online "Bucket List" of things she wanted to do before dying. Alice Pyne, l5, created an Internet blog in which she described her fight against a cancer of the white blood cells. " I've been fighting cancer for almost four years and now l know that the cancer is gaining on me and it doesn't look like I'm going to win this one," she wrote. For her list, the teenager took inspiration from the 2007 film "The Bucket List", in which two terminally ill   men, played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, draw up a list of things they wish to do before they die. On her list, at the site www. alicepyne. blogspot. com, she has included making everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor  , swimming with sharks, meeting boy band Take That and getting a purple iPad computer. Messages of support and offers of help quickly flooded her webpage and it became one of the most talked about subjects on Twitter. "Oh dear and I thought that I was just doing a little blog for a few friends!" she wrote after her site attracted huge attention. "Thank you so much for all your lovely messages to me." Pyne, who lives with her family in the northwest English town of Ulverston, revealed   the management of Take That had arranged for her to see the band after reading her blog. A group of local lawmakers have also joined forces with the Anthony Nolan blood cancer charity to encourage people to join its stem cell register. What happened after Alice Pyne wrote her"Bucket List"? A) The media called on people to help her. B) People sent gifts to her from all over the world. C) A lot of people offered to donate bone marrow to her. D) People around the world sent messages to support her.
D

The website FarmersOnly.com calls itself an online dating and friendship finder. The idea started in the mind of a man, Jerry Miller in Ohio. He wondered how farmers could meet new people who understand the life of a farmer. Jerry Miller is not a farmer but he represents a lot of farmers. As he tells it, the idea for the site was planted when a farmer told him one day that she was recently divorced and would like to date. _  So, in 2005, Jerry Miller launched his website. "You don't have to be a farmer to be onFarmersOnly.com, but you do have to have the good old-fashioned traditional values of America's Heartland." You also have to live in the United States or Canada to be a member of the site. Some services are free, but a full membership costs fifty dollars for a year. As of last week the site listed more than 58,000 members. Many of them are farmers in the United States. Others are students or workers involved in some way with agriculture. Jerry Miller tells us about thirty marriages in the last year have resulted from his website. Some farmers have also found love through a group,Singles in Agriculture, which was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1986. It organizes gatherings that usually end with a dance, but is not a dating service. The purpose is to support educational and social activities that offer people a chance for friendship. Its website,singlesinag.org, says there are more than 1,000 members across the nation and as far away as France. Which of the following is true ofsinglesinag.org? A) Its services are free. B) It provides dating services. C) Only farmers can become its members. D) Farmers in France can't benefit from it.

A